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Weddings

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Wedding stationery is a traditional way of inviting guests to join your special day, but many have replaced the paper invites with electronic ones. However, there is something personal about holding a beautiful card in your hand. It’s a keepsake and memory.

So, if you would like to send out paper invitations, remember to look for sustainable ways to wow your guests. Using recycled paper is eco-friendly and does not take anything new from the environment. Ditch the ribbons, stickers and other add-ons to make sure it is 100% biodegradable.

Here are some of the most exquisite eco-friendly wedding stationery out there to inspire you.

 

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Make a bold statement with a tulle wedding dress. Known as the modern-day ‘frothy dress’, this fabric creates a fairytale-like design, encouraging the bride to feel like a little girl playing dress-up.

Tulle has been a popular fabric for bridal gowns for decades now, and it’s easy to see why. Its versatility is its best asset. It can be chic and glamorous or soft and girly depending on how you style it. Take a look at just a few of the variation we are loving:

 

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Bring the island vibe to your accessories with a tropical-inspired bridal bouquet. This theme exudes laid-back vibes, perfect for the chilled bride.

If you’re having a destination wedding, including flowers endemic to that region is a super sweet idea. If you’re not but just love the look, flowers like Birds of Paradise, Phalaenopsis Orchids, and Pin Cushion Proteas are popular choices. Opt for doses of colour to liven the lookup and stay on-trend.

Of course, you can’t forget to add in some leaves of greenery. Fleshy, large leaves like the Monstera, the Banana leaf and the Fiddleleaf are great additions.

Here are some beautiful bouquets to inspire you:

 

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As the COVID-19 pandemic continues, some wedding plans have been put on hold and others happened sooner than expected. If you tied the knot before your planned wedding date, this means you likely missed out on some of the traditional pre-wedding celebrations.

Typically, a bachelorette party is a celebration of the bride’s last night of singledom. But what if you’re already married?

In comes the wifelorette. A wifelorette is a party given in honour of a woman who is already married. Generally, this kind of party happens if the bride could not have a bachelorette party before her wedding.

 

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Wifelorettes are no different than the usual bachelorette, so let your creative juices flow and plan something that is perfect for you and your best friends. From a night out on the town to a weekend away, or even a fun scavenger hunt, anything goes.

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It’s all fun and games until your hair starts paying for it. To help whip summer-stressed hair back into a healthier shape and prevent any further damage from occurring, we need to take a more gentle approach. Here’s how:

Recovery mode

One of the first, most effective treatments to repair sun-damaged hair, is with a hot oil treatment. And better yet, you can do it at home without spending a cent. Mix half a cup of olive oil with two vitamin E capsules and heat up in the microwave for no more than 10 seconds. Then, work the mixture through from the ends upward and leave for about an hour, then shampoo and condition as normal. However, if the damage is particularly bad, it might be time to schedule a trim to get rid of dead ends, prevent split ends from progressing, and stimulate new, healthy growth.

Repair damage

While a long dip on a hot day is total bliss, your hair won’t agree. Chlorinated water in swimming pools exposes your hair to harmful chemicals, sea water contributes to dryness, along with the sun being a constant, too. After a swim, always rinse hair thoroughly to keep damage to a minimum, then follow up with a replenishing hair routine. The Wella Fusion range offers exactly that –  a hair recovery range that instantly helps to repair damaged hair and make it more resilient. Not only does it remove impurities, it also penetrates the hair follicle to leave it smoother and more elastic. Did we mention it’s suitable for colour-treated hair, too? Check.
Shop online or find a salon nearest to you: linktr.ee/wellaprofessionals_sa

Prevent and protect

Avoid overwashing and, with that, stripping precious oils from your hair by choosing your products carefully. We know that amped up heat means extra sweat, sunscreen and product build-up, which inevitably feeds the need for extra shampoos on top of your normal routine. When hair is already in a compromised state, focus on putting back, rather than stripping away. Opt for light moisture mists with UV and pollution filters, deep treatment masks once a week combined with lighter conditioners for in-between, and shampoos specifically for your hair type to avoid weighing your locks down or having to wash too often. Oh, and a hat too, for good measure!

Rethink styling

With extra humidity in the air, it’s pointless to try and boost volume or force hair into a perfect style if it’s just going to fall flat anyway. Instead, embrace your natural texture and work with that instead. Reach for a curl cream if you want to tone down frizz on naturally curly hair, a salt spray to add effortless texture to straighter styles, or a finishing oil to boost shine and add extra moisture. This will also avoid unnecessary heat and styling damage, preventing further wear and tear.

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Home Affairs Minister Aaron Motsoaledi suspended a number of services, including the solemnisation and registration of marriages until further notice. This comes as South Africa continues its second round of lockdown Level 3, as well as a second wave of COVID-19 infections worse than the first.

In a statement on Tuesday [January 12], the Minister explained that Home Affairs will now only offer priority services, as the crowds that gather daily outside the offices are a massive concern.

“At the beginning of the pandemic and the subsequent lockdown, certain Home Affairs services were suspended in order to reduce the number of people who visited our offices. This was to limit the risk of their infecting each other and the staff because social distancing is difficult when you have a large crowd,” he said.

“As the lockdown levels were relaxed, we incrementally reinstated services until 01 October 2020 when we went into lockdown Alert Level 1. This is when almost all services were reinstated. Unfortunately, the impact of what we did on 01 October had the effect of taking us back to pre-COVID-19 days where huge crowds gathered at our offices while not observing any of the protocols, especially social distancing.”

Out of their 412 offices, 266 had to close at some point since the beginning of the lockdown in March 2020 because of staff members testing positive for COVID-19. Hundreds of employees have tested positive for the virus and in the first 10 days of this year alone, they have already lost seven front office employees.

“These trends and numbers are going upwards, suggesting there’s going to be an even greater demand for death certificates. Taking all these factors into consideration, the Department of Home Affairs has decided to temporarily suspend certain activities and services until further notice. This is unfortunate but we are forced by circumstances,” added the Minister.

The following services have been suspended until further notice:

– Applications of Smart ID Cards, except for matriculants

– Applications for passports, except for people who fall in the categories permitted to travel in the amended Disaster Management Act Regulations

– Marriage services such as solemnisation and registration.

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Celebs, they’re just like us. You would think being rich and famous would make dating slightly easier, but some still need some extra help.

Luckily, they’ve got great friends to play matchmaker. Here are some celebrity couples who came to be thanks to their cunning pals.

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle:

This modern-day fairytale is all thanks to a mutual friend, although their identity has no officially been confirmed.

“It was definitely a set-up. It was a blind date,” Meghan has previously said of their first encounter. “I didn’t know much about him and so the only thing I had asked her when she said she wanted to set us up was, I had one question, I said ‘Is he nice?'”

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Emily Blunt and John Krasinski

This much-loved couple were introduced to each other by fellow actor Anne Hathaway, who Blunt worked with on The Devil Wears Prada.

“It was one of those things where I wasn’t really looking for a relationship and I was thinking I’m going to take my time in L.A,” Krasinski explained during an interview with Ellen Degeneres. “Then I met her and I was so nervous. I was like, ‘Oh god, I think I’m going to fall in love with her.’ As I shook her hand I went, ‘I like you.'”

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Benji Madden and Cameron Diaz

We can thank Nicole Richie for this couple. The actress and reality star, who is married to Benji’s brother Joel, The reality star, who is married to Madden’s brother, Joel, took credit for playing cupid for the couple.

“I approve of anything that’s going to make Benji happy,” she said during an interview on Watch What Happens Live. “I’m going to take responsibility for everything!”

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Giselle Bunchen and Tom Brady

The original supermodel and sports star couple met through a matchmaking mutual friend.

“This friend told me he knew a girl version of me,” the NFL player said in an interview.

“I knew Tom was the one straightaway. I could see it in his eyes that he was a man with integrity who believes in the same things I do,” Gisele told Vogue.

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Joe Manganiello and Sofia Vergara

This pair were introduced to each other at a party by Vergara’s Modern Family co-star Jesse Tyler Ferguson. Taking it a step further, he even gave Manganiello Vergara’s phone number to make sure they kept in contact.

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For over a decade, Ellen DeGeneres and Portia de Rossi have been one of the most prominent and powerful couples in Hollywood. Here’s how the pair fell in love.

DeGeneres and De Rossi met at a party back in 2000, and De Rossi told Oprah she fell in love instantaneously. However, at the time she had not come out as gay, so she could not express her feelings.

Three years later in 2004, they reconnected at VH1’s Big in ’04 Awards. At the time, DeGeneres was in a long-term relationship with photographer Alexandra Hedison and De Rossi was dating director Francesca Gregorini.  However, their connection was undeniable and the pair ended their individual relationships to be together.

“She had a girlfriend and I had a girlfriend, but it wasn’t like, ‘Oh, we’re going to have an affair,’” DeGeneres explained to People Magazine. “We were just supposed to be together. It was a tough decision. I was physically getting sick because I was trying not to say anything. So I told Alex and she told Francesca. It was really hard to uproot everything.”

They went public as a couple in 2005 at the HBO Golden Globe Awards After Party. They soon moved in together.

Speaking to People Magazine, De Rossi said: “It’s the first time that I’ve known in every cell of my being that I’m with somebody for the rest of my life.”

DeGeneres and De Rossi married on August 16, 2008, soon after same-sex marriage was legalised in California. They said ‘I do’ at their Los Angeles home with only 19 guests present. Both brides wore Zac Posen outfits for the big day. Late philosopher and self-help guru Wayne Dyer officiated the ceremony.

“Today we have taken a giant step forward toward the ideal that all of us, with no exceptions, are not only created equal, but we each have the unalienable right to pursue our own happiness,” he said during the ceremony.

“I have often said that true nobility is not about being better than anyone else, it’s about being better than you used to be. With your exchange of vows today, you symbolize for many who have gone before you, who were forced to live their lives in quiet desperation, lurking in the shadows, that we as a people, are truly becoming better than we used to be.”

Picture: Instagram / Portia de Rossi

Fred Paul and Florence Harvey’s love story ignited 68 years ago when they were just teenagers in Wandsworth, a small town in Canada.

They were inseparable, spending every moment they could wrapped up in each other’s company. Every night, Paul would flicker his porch light to say good night to Harvey, who lived across the bay.

She was my first love. My first girlfriend and my first true love,” Paul (84) told CNN.

After a two year relationship, the pair separated and ended up marrying other people and started their own families. But fate has a way of intervening. In 2017, Harvey’s husband died of cancer and in 2019, Paul’s wife died. While grieving the loss of their loves, they rekindled their old flame.

Upon hearing the news his wife had passed, Harvey reached out to Paul to comfort him. One phone call became two, which turned into daily calls that would last for hours.

“I never thought it would go past that,” Harvey, 81, said. “But we went from talking once a week, to twice, to three times, to every day for hours. We had really reconnected even though we hadn’t seen each other in all those years. I knew this was it.”

Months later, the pair reunited in person and within three days, had decided to get married. They exchanged vows on August 8, 2020 in front of close family and friends.

“You were the first young man to walk me home in my teens,” Harvey told Paul during the ceremony. “I guess you’ll be the last man to walk me home.”

The couple now plan to relive their first chapters of love by visiting their childhood town where it all began.

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Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, the bathrobe has become the ultimate fashion statement. Comfy and cosy, it’s easy to see why people would want to wear it everywhere. One place you wouldn’t expect to see a robe, however, is at a wedding.

Ever the trendsetter, musician Harry Styles donned a bathrobe to the wedding of his agent Jeff Azoff in Montecito, California on January 4. He started the day off with a formal black suit but changed into the bathrobe to pose for pictures with the newlyweds.

 

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This weekend also confirmed that Styles is dating actor Olivia Wilde, who is also directing the film Don’t Worry Darling which he is currently starring in.

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